recently "adopted" baby squirrel

[bayhorsegirl]

Hi everyone! This board is amazing -- who knew there where so many people who knew so much about squirrels?!

I live on a horse farm and yesterday found a baby squirrel in the tack room of all places. The cat must have dragged him in (she loves to carry her prey around before she... er... eats them) but there is not a scratch on him.

We literally have TONS of squirrels around the farm. I wouldn't have the faintest clue as to where to begin looking for the nest. I have raised baby mice and birds before and successfully released them into the wild; I would like to do the same with this little critter.

I think he is around 3-5 weeks of age based on my research. His eyes are closed by he has fur and his ears have "popped" since I brought him in yesterday. He was dehydrated and I gave him pedialyte (as recommended) approx. 4-5 times yesterday, last night, and one more time this morning. He didn't want a lot, but he took in about 4-5cc overall, I would say.

He is currently wrapped up in a shoe box with some rags and a heating pad set on low. He is quite active (wiggles around, squeaks a little, startles when I touch him, moves from one end of the box to the other) and today I started him on an Esbilac/water mixture. For the first few times he didn't want anything to do with it; I just fed him about half an hour ago and he was suckling for more. He drank about 4cc and wanted more, but I don't want to over feed him. I wiped his bottom after and he produced one brown poop.

Is there anything else I should do for now? How much/often should I feed him? On a scale of 1-10, I would say he is about a 7. His belly is round-ish, but I can easily feel his ribs and I'm just afraid that I'm not feeding him enough. Of course, I also don't want to over feed. Sometimes he makes these little chirping noises when I feed him and sneezes. I'm trying really hard not to feed him too fast but all I have is a 4cc syringe.

Sorry this is so long but I just really want him to live. :) I named him Petrie, after the little dinosaur from the Land Before Time who was always falling out of trees.

[PBluejay2]

I just typed this up for someone else in your same predicament, so forgive the copy and paste. As far as how much to feed, it should be approximately 5% of hius body weight per feeding, and at his age that should be about every three to four hours.


ANY squirrel exposed to cat saliva needs to be on antibiotics whether you can see a wound or not. Cat saliva has a bacteria in it that can be fatal to squirrels. Your baby might be dehydrated, but you shouldn't give it Pedialyte for more than 24 hours. Do the pinch test on the skin of its back. If the skin stays tented for more than a couple of seconds, the baby is dehydrated. As for not eating, you should only feed it Esbilac puppy formula (available from vets and pet stores). Get the powdered form. You have to introduce the formula by diluting the mixture at 4 parts water to one part powder and then work up to full strength. You also need to be on the correct feeding schedule for its age and weight. Also the formula needs to be pretty warm (not hot) for it to be palatable. Others will be on to tell you more, but finally, friend, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is to try to find a rehabber who can take the baby and treat it. Others might be able to find one for you. Thank you for caring enough to take care of this little sweetie!

[BisqiMom]

I definitely think it is best to make sure the baby squirrel is fed however much he is able to drink. If his eyes aren't open, then he is probably less than 4 weeks old, and you will probably have to get up during the night to feed him :shakehead hehe. Been there, done that! ;)
Good luck with your little baby...have you figured out whether you think your cat had a hold of him? :(

[PBluejay2]

I definitely think it is best to make sure the baby squirrel is fed however much he is able to drink. If his eyes aren't open, then he is probably less than 4 weeks old, and you will probably have to get up during the night to feed him :shakehead hehe. Been there, done that! ;)
Good luck with your little baby...have you figured out whether you think your cat had a hold of him? :(

With all due respect, you should absolutely not feed a baby all he is willing to drink. Babies will gorge themselves, and you will wind up with bloat and/or diarrhea. You should follow the 5% rule (some go 7% but you have to watch for soft stool). Also, they open their eyes at around five-six weeks. Finally, after about two weeks you can stop the night feedings--just feed them last thing before bedtime and first thing in the morning). And if there's ANY possibility at all that your baby came into contact with a cat, you need to get it on antibiotics.

[FLUFFYTAILNUT]

With all due respect, you should absolutely not feed a baby all he is willing to drink. Babies will gorge themselves, and you will wind up with bloat and/or diarrhea. You should follow the 5% rule (some go 7% but you have to watch for soft stool). Also, they open their eyes at around five-six weeks. Finally, after about two weeks you can stop the night feedings--just feed them last thing before bedtime and first thing in the morning). And if there's ANY possibility at all that your baby came into contact with a cat, you need to get it on antibiotics.

:goodpost ...
Biqski..if you do .."feed yours" all it wants...you will lose it...
It is very important to follow instruction from those that "know what they are talking about.":peace FTN~

[bayhorsegirl]

There are absolutely no marks on him at all. He also didn't have any saliva on him when I found him so maybe the cat never had him... although I have no idea how he got up the steps and into the corner of the tack room by himself! Would a mother squirrel have carried him there?

I am feeding him approx. every 3.5 - 4 hours. I am now giving a mixture of 75% esbilac (already premixed 2-1 ratio), 25% water. I have been gradually increasing the amount of formula and decreasing the amount of water. Should I ever give him 100% formula (it is the powder kind, already premixed 2-1) or always add a little bit of water?

Today is the third day I have had him. He is now sucking enthusiastically when I feed him but I am making sure to go as slow as possible with the syringe. I am now giving him 5cc per feeding. Is this too much? At the end his little belly is nice and round but not bloated and he goes right to sleep.

He makes little chirping/grunting noises when I feed him. Is this normal? I don't want to feed him to fast and have him asphyxiate! :(

I am also making sure to stimulate after each feeding. This morning he had a pretty good sized poop that was dark brown. For the second feeding he urinated, but did not defecate.

Even though his eyes are not open he is becoming very active and has a healthy startle response whenever I go to pick him up for feeding. He is also quite wiggly and loves to suck on my fingers. Is there anything else I should be doing? When should I expect his eyes to open?

Also, right now he is living in a shoe box. Once his eyes open, what is the next step in housing? I am going to release him, but not until he is old enough and can fend for himself.

[PBluejay2]

There are absolutely no marks on him at all. He also didn't have any saliva on him when I found him so maybe the cat never had him... although I have no idea how he got up the steps and into the corner of the tack room by himself! Would a mother squirrel have carried him there?

The mother possibly could have taken him there, but why would she? Again, if there is any possibility he was brought there by a cat, he needs antibiotics. You'd have to shave him down to bare skin to be certain he didn't have small puncture wounds, and if he were exposed only to saliva, it could have dried before you found him.[/B]

I am feeding him approx. every 3.5 - 4 hours. I am now giving a mixture of 75% esbilac (already premixed 2-1 ratio), 25% water. I have been gradually increasing the amount of formula and decreasing the amount of water. Should I ever give him 100% formula (it is the powder kind, already premixed 2-1) or always add a little bit of water?

[B]I don't understand about the pre-mixed powder. It comes canned and in powder form. But yes, you should go to full strength after you build up to it. The schedule (3.5-4 hours) sounds good. Watch for soft, very light colored stools. It's a sign you're overfeeding and might want to go to the 4 hour interval. Once the formula works its way through, stools should be firm, golden little "nuggets."

Today is the third day I have had him. He is now sucking enthusiastically when I feed him but I am making sure to go as slow as possible with the syringe. I am now giving him 5cc per feeding. Is this too much? At the end his little belly is nice and round but not bloated and he goes right to sleep.

At 5ccs per feeding, he'd need to weigh 100 grams. If he's an Eastern Gray, he probably doesn't weigh this much yet. Try to get an accurate weight on him if at all possible.

He makes little chirping/grunting noises when I feed him. Is this normal? I don't want to feed him to fast and have him asphyxiate! :(

Good--that's a MAIN concern, not aspirating. They do grunt sometimes.


I am also making sure to stimulate after each feeding. This morning he had a pretty good sized poop that was dark brown. For the second feeding he urinated, but did not defecate.

Be sure to stimulate for SEVERAL minutes. Sometimes it takes them a whil to work things out. The dark stool is probably leftover feces from Mom's milk. It can be dark brown to almost black. It should lighten up as he eats more formula.

Even though his eyes are not open he is becoming very active and has a healthy startle response whenever I go to pick him up for feeding. He is also quite wiggly and loves to suck on my fingers. Is there anything else I should be doing? When should I expect his eyes to open?

]His eyes will open somewhere around the 5-6 week mark. I always sing "Welcome to my world" :D [/COLOR]

Also, right now he is living in a shoe box. Once his eyes open, what is the next step in housing? I am going to release him, but not until he is old enough and can fend for himself.

Once his eyes open you can move him to a small cage with a couple of branches for him to explore. He'll still need a "nest" inside the cage to sleep in. You'll need a larger cage as he grows, preferably one large enought to use as a soft-release outdoor cage. I release mine at sixteen weeks or better. They need to be almost grown.

[BisqiMom]

:goodpost ...
Biqski..if you do .."feed yours" all it wants...you will lose it...
It is very important to follow instruction from those that "know what they are talking about.":peace FTN~

Oooh, yes I re-read what I posted and realized my errors. I meant to say that I always feed it when it's hungry, but I do stop it during the feeding when she's had a reasonable amount. I think I may be lucky that my squirrel lets me know when she is hungry and we have developed a system of understanding, but not all squirrels are probably the same so I apologize for the mis-posting!

Choking on formula and bloat can be major problems, and luckily, since you are stimulating him to go potty, you should be able to keep a close eye on the stool to make sure it's not getting too runny, in which case you may need to add more parts water to your Esbilac formula or decrease the amount you feed at a time during feedings.

But definitely listen to those members on here who have the experience! That's why I joined this forum, too :)

[bayhorsegirl]

Petrie is still doing well *crosses fingers & knocks on wood*

He seems to be growing by leaps and bounds and is VERY enthusiastic about food time now. He has also started "chittering" and grunting and rolling around whenever I pull back the fleece to take him out, which is very cute.

His eyes weren't open today but he did urinate and defecate on his own almost as soon as he was done eating without stimulation. I still stimulated him, but nothing else happened. Is this normal? I've read horror stories of poor baby squirrels bladders exploding, so as you can tell, this is one of my greater fears!

Otherwise he is doing great! Seems very happy. I'll have to post some pictures soon. Can't wait for his eyes to open! And am hoping that I'm doing everything right. He is eating about 4cc of straight formula now. He actually gages (gauges?) himself, which is nice. Kind of sounds like your little critter, Bisqi. I'll keep him at 4cc for now until he gets a little bigger. That seems to fill him up and make his tummy round without the bloating.

Thanks everyone!!